The purposes of the study were to investigate the learner-related variables influencing to the effect of reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio (learning participation, learning achievement, levels of reflective thinking and learning s...
The purposes of the study were to investigate the learner-related variables influencing to the effect of reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio (learning participation, learning achievement, levels of reflective thinking and learning satisfaction) and to find the practical strategy that can apply the reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio to pre-service teacher education.
With the advances in information technology and digital media, it is being suggested the need for change in the competency of pre-service teacher and the overall teacher instructional methods in this knowledge-based information society. In today’s society that is centered on information technology and digital media and can create new knowledge and information at fast speeds, instructors have to be able to search, collect, and process information according to their personal interest and requests, as well as reconstruct knowledge and to study with motivation. In order to do these, one needs competencies such as ‘practical knowledge’ and ‘reflective thinking.’
To enhance the composition of practical knowledge, as well as reflective thinking and the ability of self-directed learning for the future, this study aimed at ‘reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio’ as an instructional method. The previous studies were found that learners wrote reflective journals and reflected about their own studies while they were offline, neither sharing the contents of their reflective journals, nor giving any feedback in timely. It was mostly done for the purpose of evaluation. They were also mostly focused on the short-term effects brought about by the reflective journal writing, and they had the limitations of not being able to reveal the properties or variables of learners that connect e-portfolio with reflective journal. The research questions must be considered taking these points into consideration. The reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio was done with the web-based club and a personal blog in this study.
The research questions of this study were proposed as followed:
1. What learner-related variables may predict the effect of reflective journal writing in e-portfolio on the learning participation?
2. What learner-related variables may predict the effect of reflective journal writing in e-portfolio on the learning achievement?
3. What learner-related variables may predict the effect of reflective journal writing in e-portfolio on the levels of reflective thinking?
4. What learner-related variables may predict the effect of reflective journal writing in e-portfolio on the learning satisfaction?
Based on the research questions, literature reviews suggested eight learner-related variables: the levels of prior knowledge, the attitude toward writing, the relevance of the reflective journal’s topic, the learning motivation, the levels of internal locus of control, the self-regulated learning strategy, the learning style, and the internet application ability. This study was conducted with 51 pre-service teachers. 51 reflective journals collected were analyzed by the framework of Galvez-Martin et al (1998). A correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data.
The results of this study were summarized as followed:
First, among the learner-related variables selected in the study, three variables were found to show statistically significant in predicting the learning participation, which were the relevance of the reflective journal’s topic (β=.561, p<.001), the internet application ability (β=.403, p<.001), and the levels of internal locus of control (β=.236, p<.05).
Second, two learner-related variables were found to be statistically significant in predicting the learning achievement; the levels of prior knowledge (β=.410, p<.01) and the self-regulated learning strategy (β=.300, p<.05).
Third, three learner-related variables were found to show statistically significant in predicting the levels of reflective thinking; the attitude toward writing (β=.293, p<.01), the relevance of the reflective journal’s topic (β=.329, p<.05), and the levels of prior knowledge (β=.283, p<.05).
Fourth, the learner-related variables which showed statistically significant in predicting the learning satisfaction were the relevance of the reflective journal’s topic (β=.505, p<.001), the competitive learning style (β=.299, p<.05), and the levels of prior knowledge (β=.291, p<.05).
In an effort to find the variables influencing to the effect of reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio, this study was conducted with 51 pre-service teachers. The participants had little experience in this kind of activities. Since the results on reflective journal writing collected over a period of approximately 2 months, there might be limits in generalizing it. However, the journal writing was recommended as a form of instructional method for pre-service teacher for acquiring practical knowledge and reflective thinking. This study could provide instructors who wish to utilize reflective journal, web-based reflective journal, and reflective journal writing on learning in e-portfolio with practical guidelines in the instructional design and management taking into a consideration of the leaner-related variables.